Father Giovanni Battista
Martini is one of those people to whom
the musical analyst and writer Donald
Francis Tovey would probably have referred
as an "IHF" or "Interesting
Historical Figure". Deeply patronising,
of course, but not far from the truth,
for Martini’s influence on his contemporaries
was far more important than his music,
which is unexceptional.
This Franciscan monk
was clearly a powerful figure in Bologna
– a major musical centre in the early
18th century – and further
afield. The twenty-year-old Mozart wrote
him a devoted letter, and the chronicler
Charles Burney was much taken not only
by his musical gifts but by the charm
and conviviality of his personality.
Martini was a celebrated
organist, which explains the slightly
surprising fact that this CD, with its
Requiem and Missa Solemnis,
consists almost entirely of organ music.
In the Requiem, there are short
passages of plainchant, presenting straightforwardly
some of the main portions of the text,
but that is the sum total of vocal involvement
throughout. In addition, many of the
organ solos are extremely short (just
20 seconds in one instance), so that
the whole disc has an inevitably bitty
feeling to it.
Clearly, this is liturgical
music in the strict sense – music which
was wholly subsidiary to the service
it accompanied, and intended to do nothing
more than oil the wheels of ritual.
For that reason, it has to be said that
this CD makes fairly unsatisfactory
listening, in that much of the music
barely makes sense outside its religious
context.
However, some of the
more developed organ pieces – the Toccata
that opens the CD for example, or the
delightful Post Communio from
the Missa Solemnis - are undoubtedly
worth hearing. This last piece has a
distinctly Handelian feel to its figuration,
while the often sliding chromatic harmonies
of the lovely Elevazione in the
Requiem, for example, suggest
that Martini was exposed to the influence
of Vivaldi. Some of the fugues, though
mostly pretty conventional, are nevertheless
lively and enjoyable, particularly the
Post Communi of the Requiem
and the Offertorio of the
Missa.
Elena Sartori plays
with skill and a completely secure sense
of style. The booklet gives an English
translation of Jolanda Scarpa’s notes
about the music, but, inexplicably,
not of the biographical note about Miss
Sartori. The organ of San Michele is
a fine instrument, which Miss Sartori
exploits enough to make us aware of
its capabilities. This recording is
produced lovingly and with much skill,
though its contents, it has to be said,
are rather specialised.
Gwyn Parry-Jones
Elean Sartori (organ), "Melodi Cantores",
Decio Biavati, Andrea Favari (soloists), Mirko
Maltoni, Mauro Medri, Walid Zogheib/Elena Sartori
